Cell-tech, trs, and Pavel

[Ford Prefect]

What do these three have in common?

Their advertising approaches:

Cell-tech: Gain 20 lbs of raw muscle and 150 lbs on your bench in 2 weeks with cell-tech creatine.

TRS MA instructional tapes: He had all those silly submission fighters crying mama, and he only used 3 simple moves which he trained for a total of 30 minutes in his life!

Pavel: With my secret russian techniques learn how to unleash devestating power in your strikes and the explosive speed of cheetah!

Anybody else get the mailers that Dragondoor sends out over snail-mail? I gotta say that I've lost all respect for Pavel. I was getting there after seeing so much overlapping information on books and tapes, but this did it for me. His claims were outrageous. Not only that but all of a sudden, he knows all about martial arts. I remember talking to the guy before he got big, and he always said that he didn't have a clue about MA. He did a little karate and that was it. I dunno. I guess I'd be a sell-out too if somebody threw enough money at me, but I liked Pavel for his down-to-earth approach.

[Suntzu]

awwww man… DD sent me this "Top Secret" type envelop about some kinda secetes of Russian martial arts… I know my mail man thot I was crazy when he delivered it to my house… 8 tapes for like $300…

[Ford Prefect]

I get mine delivered to my work, so I can only think what the mail people were talking about when that came in. I'm probably on some company watch list now. :)

[Kempo Guy]

FP,
To be fair Dragon Door is the publishing company doing the ads for Pavel... but I too believe they are over the top.
It's the content that matters! (or so I tell myself).

[bob10]

SImilar situation with TRS and Vladimir Vasiliev's tapes. TRS own the rights to the first few tapes he did and so he has no control over how they advertise them. Their recent ad in Black Belt ( I think) was well over the top.

[IronFist]

Here's something I noticed:

Pavel is all big on whole body training. Isolation is bad, etc. But then his ab tape concentrates mostly on Janda situps, which are so hard, why? Because they isolate the abs. I suppose it's because he believes that strong abs are the souce of power, but it's still funny how he talks about how isolation is bad and then he released a book/tape of ab isolation drills.

Get it?

Are his MA tapes about MA techniques, or are they just about how to generate more power in your MA techniques?

IronFist

[Ford Prefect]

I notice the same thing, Iron. "High-reps are pointless. Here's some scientific data backing up this assessment... Oh, but here's a kettlebell. There's absolutely no scientific proof that they work, but they do, so don't sweat it!" (not knocking KB's you kb-junkies; just how Pavel is inconsistent ;) )

I'm not sure of the MA stuff. I've seen him talk about striking power and tension/breathing before though. I've even met the guy and taken a class with him, and he is a cool guy. I just think that after PTP, BS, and BPA (and RKC to an extent) his stuff has gotten sketchy and a lot of the material overlapps.

I got a copy of those Rapid Response tapes from a training partner, and they had about 2 minutes of material that wasn't covered in PTP, BS, and BPA. In 8 tapes! I couldn't imagine how ****ed I'd be if I dropped $300 for that. Getting the PTP, BS, and BPA book and video would be over a $100 cheaper! I then got Relax into Stretch and his joint book, and they only went into slightly more detail in areas already covered in beyond stretching.

[Suntzu]

I then got Relax into Stretch and his joint book, and they only went into slightly more detail in areas already covered in beyond stretching. which one of those do u recommend most… or is it basically all the same and cant lose with either one… my last BIG weakness right there…

[Ford Prefect]

Just get Beyond Stretching. It has a few different stretch techniques as well as joint mobility exercises.

I think the only thing not in Beyond Stretching is the relax-contract-relax type of stretching. It's pretty simple. Relax into a comfortable stretch, contract your muscles for 6 seconds, and relax again. You should now be able to sink lower into the stretch. Just don't contract as hard as possible right away. Build up the tension to its peak over the 6 seconds to avoid a muscle tear.

[Kempo Guy]

Instead of Superjoints, I'd recommend the Warrior Wellness series by Scott Sonnon. As for the stretching tapes, I like RIS better than BS.

KG

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

"It's pretty simple. Relax into a comfortable stretch, contract your muscles for 6 seconds, and relax again. You should now be able to sink lower into the stretch."

i been doing that for a long time without reading that. i just tense on every other exhale and sink a little lower on the alternate exhales. though i did get the idea reading brucie's art of expressing the human body. people can dis the book all they want but borrowing it off a friend is what got me motivated to actually stick with lifting and working out for 3 years straight (minus the surgeries and fu cking cancer and whatnot).

[Mr. Bao]

Ford:

Cant blame people for trying to make some money. If people are dumb enough to buy, people will try their best to build the their best hussle and hype. Personally, I dont believe in what I read and always test out the claims first before I become a believer and I wait. Anything good will come into the light in time as authentic like creatine. So I dont jump on the cart so quickly and wait. I think we should all practice this philosophy.

[cutter]

although he does push the janda situps & his ab pavalizer heavily, in the" bullet proof abs" book he stresses the importance of having the entire midsection work as a unit.

i'm totally sold on kettlebells, but i got the plate loaded handles from ironmind,which means they are adjustable & cheaper.

like most things, there is a lot of useful info mixed with some things that aren't useful.

[Mr. Bao]

Cutter:

I much love for Pavel's body of work. I do like kettlebells too and own several kbs. I do not have the ab pavalizer because I work inside a gym which I can get a personal trainer coworker to hold and pull my legs for a dr janda sit ups and plus it is costly. I would buy ab pavalizer if I had a home gym tho. I keep my kettlebells in my locker room and I used it with some of clients. Pls dont tell Pavel I am bad mouthing him, I plan to go get certified in kb training soon when it reaches in the east coast. LoL.

[rogue]

TRS ads are great entertainment. Many of the tapes are very good and most of the guys doing them have great reputations(Frank Cucci, Jim West, Tom Carter, Vunak, Vlad, Oleg, Randy Warner, Jesse Lachuga, etc). It's about marketing and selling some tapes. TRS seems to have a good formula, I don't like it but then their ads do get my attention.

[Mr. Bao]

LOL.

I guess they hired a good market then if they got your attention. Well, I need to sell ice cubes to the north pole folks, does anyone have TRS's sale marketers' number?

[cutter]

i'll never tell.:)

i'm planning to get certified this year too.

[Mr. Bao]

Good luck, when you get certified pm me.